The Impact of Stress and the Power of Mindfulness - Bob Stahl

The Impact of Stress and the Power of Mindfulness

Scientific evidence of the debilitating effects of stress on the human body, along with its evolutionary origins, was highlighted by Robert Sapolsky in his book "Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers". This work underscores the profound impact stress can have on human health and well-being. 

In recent years, there has been growing interest in mindfulness. Defined in modern psychological terms as "paying attention to relevant aspects of experience in a nonjudgmental manner," mindfulness involves the non-judgmental acceptance and investigation of present experiences. This includes body sensations, internal mental states, thoughts, emotions, impulses, and memories, all aimed at reducing suffering and increasing well-being.

Historically rooted in Buddhist practices, particularly as described in the "Satipatthana Sutta", mindfulness has been secularly integrated into psychology. One of the first significant incorporations was the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, developed in the late 1970s by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. MBSR is founded on principles such as non-judging, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, beginner’s mind, patience, trust, and de-centering.

The Essence of Mindfulness

Mindfulness teaches us about the "beginner's mind," seeing things fresh and new in the moment. It encourages us to be more present in our day-to-day lives, recognizing that the only moment we truly live in is the present.  Our minds often operate in two modes: rehearsing (planning for the future) or rehashing (dwelling on the past). Mindfulness helps us break free from these patterns by grounding us in the present. As John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

Formal and Informal Practices

Mindfulness can be practiced both formally and informally. Formal practice involves setting aside time—whether five, fifteen, twenty, or forty-five minutes—for structured activities like mindfulness of breathing, body scan meditation, or sitting meditation. These practices expand awareness to include sounds, body sensations, and mental states.

Many daily activities go unnoticed because we are often preoccupied with thoughts of the future or the past.Informal mindfulness, on the other hand, involves integrating mindfulness into everyday activities. For example:

- When eating, focus on chewing, tasting, and swallowing.

- When showering or using the toilet, be fully present.

- When conversing, truly listen to the other person.

- When walking or driving, be aware of the act itself.

A helpful mindfulness tool is the acronym "STOP":

S: Stop for a moment, even during a busy workday.

T: Take a breath—inhale and exhale.

O: Observe how you’re feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally.

P: Proceed with what you’re doing.

This simple practice can help you recalibrate, whether by relaxing tense shoulders, taking a snack, or going for a walk. These small moments of mindfulness can leave you feeling refreshed, clear, and centered.

The Mind-Body Connection

The growing interest in the mind-body connection has led neuroscientists to explore the links between our thoughts, emotions, and physiology. Research has revealed neural pathways that connect our mental and physical states, highlighting how thoughts and emotions—composed of chemicals and electrical signals—influence our bodies.

Unawareness -->Disconnected from our experience--> disbalance

Awareness--> Connected-->Balance and harmony

Unawareness leads to disconnection and imbalance, while awareness fosters connection, balance, and harmony. Mindfulness empowers us to recognize choices in how we respond to situations, moving from impulsive reactivity to mindful responsiveness. As Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor and psychiatrist, famously said, "Between the stimulus and the response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom." If we are not mindful, we are not aware of any spaces between our stimulus and response, we are reacting in an impulsive reactivity. If we become aware, we have a choice to respond differently. So, perhaps I will say that there's a separation between impulsive reactivity and mindfully responding to a situation. So there's a big difference between impulsive reactivity and mindfully responding.

An Autobiography in Five Chapters

Poem by Portia Nelson

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in. I am lost….I am helpless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the side walk.

I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I fall in….it’s a habit…but my eyes are open.

I know where I am. It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down a different street.

And the sole responsibility is ours. In a beautiful poem "The Journey" by Mary Oliver, she speaks about the importance of taking care of ourselves.  The title of the poem refers to the speaker's decision to leave the bad advice and demands of other people behind and to follow their own instincts instead—that is, to forge their own path in life.

The Journey" 

Poem by Mary Oliver

And there was a new voice

that you slowly recognized as your own. 

And it kept you company 

as you strode deeper and deeper 

into the world, 

determined to do 

the only thing you could do, 

determined to save 

the only life you could save.

Practicing Mindfulness:

To practice mindfulness, begin by checking in with your body. Notice physical sensations like lightness, heaviness, aches, or itches. Gradually focus on your breath, feeling it in your abdomen, chest, or nose. Rest your awareness on the breath, observing each inhalation and exhalation without manipulation.

When your mind wanders—as it inevitably will—acknowledge where it went and gently return to the breath. You can also expand your awareness to include sounds, noticing their ephemeral nature.

Take some moments to be mindful and just begin to check in, feeling your body sitting in the chair, feet on the floor, becoming connected to the body. And begin to just acknowledge what you're feeling in the body physically, lightness, heaviness, aches, itches, tangles, tiredness, maybe fullness from lunch. Checking in with the body and acknowledging what's present physically.

And gradually, as you feel into your body and acknowledge any of the physical sensations, feel into the physical sensation of your breath. You might feel it in your abdomen, in your belly, or your chest expanding as you breathe in, contracting as you breathe out. Or perhaps feeling and being mindful of the breath in the nose, feeling the coolness of the breath as it enters the nose, and the warmth of it coming out. Finding a place in your body where you can become mindful of the breath, where the breath feels prominent and distinct. And then just begin to rest your awareness at that point, whether it's in the nose, the chest, the belly, or perhaps another place, and just become mindful that when you're breathing in, you're aware that you're breathing in. And as you breathe out, you're aware that you're breathing out. There's no need to manipulate your breath or count it or visualize it or analyze it, just breathing normally and naturally, breathing in with awareness and breathing out being present.

And it's inevitable that our minds may wander off into some future thoughts or past memories. And when you become aware of that, acknowledge where you went and with great patience and kindness, come back to the breath in and the breath out. Take it easy, taking our lives, one inhalation and one exhalation at a time, being present.

You're welcome also if it seems like the sounds are becoming prominent, let that be part of the meditation, and you can just shift to hearing, just listening to the different sounds in this room. And noticing their ephemeral nature, that they arise and they pass away. So include in the sounds of those that become prominent, and if not, then just stay with the breath being present.

And now, letting your awareness begin to expand to just a sense of checking in with yourselves. So we've been feeling into the body, the breath, and sounds, and letting yourself just begin to acknowledge any thoughts and emotions that are coming in awareness. We call this a mindful check in just acknowledging what's coming up for you physically, mentally, emotionally. Maybe there's memories of what happened earlier today, or concerns about what's going to happen later in the day and just taking some moment to acknowledge your different thoughts and emotions, any physical sensations being present, checking in with yourself with awareness and letting be. You don't have to fix anything or analyze, just acknowledge in the body, in thoughts, emotions being present.

And now as we come towards the end of this meditation, bringing awareness into the chest and into the heart area, and we'll do just a little bit of some loving kindness. In our mindfulness practice, we work with two types of meditations: insight practices of mindfulness, and the heart practices of loving-kindness. One of the insights that we sometimes get when we're practicing mindfulness is how hard we can be on ourselves, and judgmental to ourselves and to others. So loving kindness is a beautiful practice. It softens the hardened heart. And so just taking some moments and just feeling into your own heart with the sense of kindness and compassion. I know we all understand these words from a dictionary point of view and it may be another thing to open our hearts to experience these words, just feeling into our own hearts, wishing for our own health and well-being. May there be reconciliation with our past that meets the present moment. It's all led us into this moment, may we be at peace.

And letting this goodwill extend outwards to those of us here in this room and in this building, and to this campus. Everyone here at times experiences the 10,000 joys, and the 10,000 sorrows of life, spreading this goodwill to all of our fellow human beings throughout this world, may all beings be at peace.

Spreading this goodwill above and below in all directions from here and throughout this universe, may all beings without exception be safe and at peace.

And just as we've extended it outwards, bringing it back inwards into our skin and flesh and bones, to the organs and to the molecules that make up the cells, into the atoms. Behaving ourselves in the heart of loving-kindness, may we be at peace, and may all beings everywhere be at peace. 

And now, very gently beginning to wiggle the fingers and toes and opening the eyes and just being fully present, awake, here and now.

Loving-Kindness Meditation:

Mindfulness practices often include loving-kindness meditation, which softens the heart and fosters compassion. Begin by directing kindness toward yourself, then extend it to others in your surroundings, your community, and ultimately to all beings everywhere. This practice helps counteract self-judgment and cultivates a sense of peace and connection.

Teaching Mindfulness to Children:

So the question is how do I teach mindfulness to my kids? So there's an old saying, "Don't be a Buddhist, be a Buddha." And so, I say that in the sense that my wife and I try to live by example. So we don't necessarily try to force-feed them meditation and mindfulness, but live by the example of living it. And also, of course, they have to find their own way in life. And so, they're familiar with some of the practices of mindfulness, use what feels appropriate to them, and we essentially give them space. But we want to-–we have a strong value in our family of living--trying to live with kindness and with integrity. And may they find their way. This is going to sound kind of funny to say but I think there's a thread of truth to this, but I don't say it's the whole truth. My kids also haven't suffered enough yet. And it's not that I wish for them to suffer but--I'm sorry to say that. From my path, it took a lot of suffering for me to finally turn deeply inwards. And, you know, and I don't wish my kids a lot of suffering but, you know, growing up we'll get–-we'll have our own share of suffering with whether it's not being seen and accepted and being picked on and so forth, then, you know.

Mindfulness vs concentration meditation (jhanas):

As a programmer, you're using your mind to really focus very deeply on a project but not on a broad way of knowing what's going on around you. You know, in some ways, we speak about mindfulness that it can be practiced like a laser beam and a flood light. And so there are certain types of practices where we are really using our laser beam of concentration to absorb our mindfulness on the object that will bring the attention to so that we can begin to sustain it for longer and longer periods of time until potentially we'll be almost become at one with it. This is some of the prescriptions for concentration and meditation where you enter into levels of absorption. In Pali, they called Jhana. And--but these are very concentrated states where you become at one with the object. And there's a lot of benefits to that type of a practice where you're getting very concentrated. And at the same time to help ease the practice, we work with concentration but we also can work with the flood light in becoming aware of the greater surroundings of things.

Healing vs. Curing

Jon Kabat-Zinn defines healing as "coming to terms with the way things are." Healing differs from curing; it involves accepting and embracing reality, even when circumstances cannot be changed. Mindfulness encourages acknowledging difficult emotions like anger, sadness, or fear, which can be the first step toward transformation. As the saying goes, "Whatever you flee from, it will pursue you. Whatever you welcome, will begin to transform you."

Mindfulness is a powerful practice that helps us live more fully in the present moment. By cultivating awareness, we can reduce suffering, increase well-being, and respond to life’s challenges with greater clarity and compassion. As Dana Faulds writes, "Resist, and the tides will sweep you off your feet. Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground."